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			A first glance at the Evergreen catalog may make "science at Evergreen" seem like an oxymoron because there is no mention of the usual college courses. That's right. You won't find chemistry 140 or biology 120. That's because the curriculum at Evergreen is based on programs.

			Programs are multidisciplinary team taught theme-oriented classes ...in which students take nothing else the faculty teaching them teach nothing else

	For example, the program, Matter and Motion, is a combination of calculus, calculus-based chemistry and calculus-based physics with an extensive laboratory component. The faculty at Evergreen strongly believe that the connections that can be made between subjects usually taught separately are vital for a complete understanding. After all, Newton invented calculus to solve physics problems.

	At the end of Matter and Motion, students will have covered the same topics to be found in a traditional honors course in calculus, chemistry and physics.

			To ensure that multidisciplinary programs would be the rule rather than the exception the college is not organized around traditional departments but rather around specialty areas. There are two specialty areas in the sciences: Environmental Studies and Scientific Inquiry, which include the subject areas shown here.

			Programs at Evergreen conduct seminars where books dealing with science-society issues are discussed and essays written about them.

			Last summer, as an intern at Los Alamos National Laboratory , I discovered that none of the other interns had had such science and society discussions - consequently, their perspectives tended to be quite narrow.

	First year students generally take Core programs. Water was a Core Program Megan and I took which prepared students for entry level programs in either environmental, biological or physical science Water brought together topics in geology, environmental policy, environmental chemistry and marine biology with a heavy emphasis on field and laboratory work.

			One of the hallmarks of being a science student at Evergreen is involvement. Whether you be a first year or upperclass student, heavy emphasis is placed on actually participating in the things discussed in class ...

			whether it be in the field...
	Field Trip - Water Program

			in the laboratory...
	Laboratory - Water Program

			or in the legislative arena, where science and policy often meet.
	Legislative Hearing - Water Program